And it's not just media companies that are getting the unwanted online attention. Corporations from Google to Lockheed Martin to Coca-Cola have had their computer systems hacked for both political reasons and economic ones.

In Google's case, Chinese hackers were looking for the names -- and the email addresses -- of political activitists in that country, says Wired senior writer Kim Zetter.

But what do you want from Coke? "There, it's economic espionage. You want to know what your competitors are doing," says Zetter. "You may not want to focus on the recipe for Coke, although that is a good one, but you might also want to know factory secrets -- you know, how does Coke operate successfully?"

It is the cost of doing business on the Internet. And since companies -- and even individuals -- can't really avoid that, Zetter says, "Everyone has to figure how to mitgate the risks and live in a sustainable way with the risks."